| | By John Clayton
ESPN.com
ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' quarterback felt nothing like a king Friday. Shaun King was practicing against the Miami Dolphins' man-to-man press defense, and it wasn't pretty.
|  | | Shaun King showed some progress Saturday against the Dolphins defense. |
By all accounts, King was struggling to complete 25 percent of his passes in early drills. Bucs coach Tony Dungy didn't panic because he knew this was work that King needed, and King seemed at ease even though everything around him that day seemed out of place.
"We struggled the first day," King said. "This was the first time we were all going against somebody different. They gave us a lot of press coverage."
By Saturday, King was experiencing some minor victories, but the Dolphins defense kept stepping in front of receivers or forcing him to lob too high of a pass. As he will do, Keyshawn Johnson came to his rescue, making a few suggestions and trying to pick up his practice tempo to give King options for throwing.
Tampa Bay fans should expect more of the same during the preseason.
First and foremost, King is learning to be an NFL starting quarterback. Despite being successful in picking up the offense late last season and getting to the NFC championship game, King is also learning Les Steckel's offense, which is completely different than the one run by departed offensive coordinator Mike Shula.
"It's a new offense and he's learning more and more," said Johnson, who joined the Bucs from the Jets in the offseason. "It's new. He's picking things up pretty fast, man. He's cool. If you run certain plays 10 times in a row, he'll know it. Then you throw in something new, and you just short-circuit. Then he's got to learn it again."
Bucs general manager Rich McKay said the coaching staff is giving King the "firehose approach." They've loaded up all the new offensive plays Steckel will call, then will be trimming out the plays that don't look good and increasing the reps on those that fit King's skills.
"I'm not really alarmed," Dungy said. "He will keep practicing and working on things. It's not anything major. Eventually, he will get better."
The question in Tampa is how quickly King can live up to his expectations. He stepped into the starting job late last season and came within a game of the Super Bowl. Adding Johnson and Pro Bowl offensive linemen Randall McDaniel and Jeff Christy to an already-talented team has Bucs fans expecting no less than a Super Bowl.
Will the pressure get to King?
"No, it's just football," King said, insisting he'll remain oblivious to the pressure. "You go out and compete and do your best and be satisfied with what your best is."
Johnson, meanwhile, is trying to come to King's defense on many fronts. During the two-day practice session against Miami that concluded on Saturday, Johnson made sure he worked extra hard to get open so that King would experience success against the Dolphins' tight pass coverages.
"One thing I haven't done is politic for the ball," Johnson said. "I'm letting him sit back and do his job. He's gotten better. I can say to him now, 'Don't throw the ball there. Next time throw the ball in front of me on that particular play because they won't be able to adjust to it.' "
During the morning session Saturday, King prided himself in leading Johnson perfectly on a crossing pattern that had barely worked in practice back in Tampa.
"I don't want to blow my own horn, but I don't think he's played with anybody like me before," Johnson said. "He doesn't know my speed yet. He has to adjust to that. He's learning all the time."
Dolphins Pro Bowl cornerback Sam Madison was impressed with King's maturity in his second season.
"He's grown a lot in one year," Madison said. "He's out there leading the team. If guys aren't running the right routes, he's on them."
But the Dolphins were on King pretty well, too. They pressured him with some blitzes while the corners took away many of his passing options. Sometimes, it's tough to be King.
John Clayton is ESPN.com's senior NFL writer.
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